circuit of the County' next day, which was a ceremony then performed with great pomp; he was asked by my mother, 'Whom he would invite to the Riding?' and answered, 'All the town now.' He feasted the citizens with uncommon magnificence, and was the last but one that maintained the splendour of the Riding2.

I was, by my father's persuasion, put to one Marclew, commonly called Bellison 3, the servant, or wife of a servant of my father, to be nursed in George Lane, where I used to call when I was a bigger boy, and eat fruit in the garden, which was full of trees 5. Here it was discovered that my eyes were bad; and an

'October 29. Avice Johnson. Wid. Buryed. Affid. made. Nov: ye 3d.'

Johnson's father served his apprenticeship at Leek in Staffordshire. Life, i. 37. A writer in Notes and Queries, 5th Ser., v. 335, says that in the Register of Burials in that town are found the names of two Samuel Johnsons-one who died in 1654 and the other in 1712. It is not unlikely that they were of Dr. Johnson's family.

'I can hardly tell who was my grandfather,' said Johnson. Life, ii.

261. He relates how some boatmen in the Hebrides, speaking of him, 'asked if the Englishman could recount a long genealogy. What answer was given them, the conversation being in Erse, I was not much inclined to examine.' Works, ix. 70.

The City of Lichfield is a county in itself. Its circuit extends about sixteen miles.

2 The Sheriff's 'Ride,' or perambulation of the City boundary, still takes place on September 8. The Sheriff, I am informed, on that day has about 250 guests to breakfast in the Guildhall. 'Various calls are made en route for refreshments,— chiefly at Freeford, where hospitality is dispensed by the owner, General Dyott.' For the family of Dyott see Letters, i. 342, n. 3.

3 The name of Marklew, alias Bellison, is yet common in Lichfield, and is usually so distinguished. Note by R. Wright.

The last of this name in Lichfield, as it is believed, a very old innkeeper, died twenty years ago.

5

Letters, i. 154.

Perhaps Johnson had this garIden in his mind when he wrote in his Life of Swift:-'Almost every boy eats as much fruit as he can get without any great inconvenience.' Works, viii. 194.

issue was cut in my left arm'; of which I took no great notice, as I think my mother has told me, having my little hand in a custard.

It is observable, that, having been told of this operation, I always imagined that I remembered it, but I laid the scene in the wrong house. Such confusions of memory I suspect to be

common.

My mother visited me every day, and used to go different ways, that her assiduity might not expose her to ridicule2; and often left her fan or glove behind her, that she might have a pretence to come back unexpected; but she never discovered any token of neglect. Dr. Swinfen3 told me, that the scrofulous sores which afflicted me proceeded from the bad humours of the nurse, whose son had the same distemper, and was likewise short-sighted, but both in a less degree. My mother thought my diseases derived from her family.

In ten weeks I was taken home, a poor, diseased infant, almost blind.

I remember my aunt Nath. Ford told me, when I was about .. years old, that she would not have picked such a poor creature up in the street.

In ... 67, when I was at Lichfield, I went to look for my

How long this issue was continued I do not remember. I believe it was suffered to dry when I was about six years old. Note by Johnson.

2 A curious instance of the bruta

lity of the age.

3 His godfather. Life, i. 34, n. 2. 4 Ib. i. 49, n. 3.

5 Benjamin West, in a curiouslyspelt letter to a friend in Philadelphia, dated July 20, 1798, speaking of his recollections of that town, says :'Early habits my friend make lasting impressions on our minds, and I am prosuaded were I to revisit those abodes, I should feel a greater joy than those felt by Dr. Johnson (that great luminary in the lettered world) whom I heard say at his Club, when

K 2

a friend asked the Dr. then just returned from visiting the place of his Nativity after a space of 40 years absence, what gave him the greatest delight when there? Why Sir replyed the Dr. it was to jump over that Style when 70 years of age, which I had been accustom to jump over when I was a Boy going to the day school. From my feelings at the recollection of my juvinal footsteps I am prosuaded the Dr. spoke the dictates of his heart.' Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1894, p. 221.

Johnson's first visit to Lichfield (not counting one of five days in the winter of 1761-2) was in 1767, thirty years after his removal to London. Life, iii. 452; Letters, i. 128–130.

nurse's

nurse's house; and, inquiring somewhat obscurely, was told 'this is the house in which you were nursed.' I saw my nurse's son, to whose milk I succeeded, reading a large Bible, which my nurse had bought, as I was then told, some time before her death.

Dr. Swinfen used to say, that he never knew any child reared with so much difficulty.

2.

1710-11.

In the second year I knew [? know] not what happened to me. I believe it was then that my mother carried me to Trysul1, to consult Dr. Atwood, an oculist of Worcester. My father and Mrs. Harriots2, I think, never had much kindness for each other. She was my mother's relation; and he had none so high to whom he could send any of his family. He saw her seldom himself, and willingly disgusted her, by sending his horses3 from home on Sunday; which she considered, and with reason, as a breach of duty. My father had much vanity, which his adversity hindered from being fully exerted. I remember, that, mentioning her legacy in the humility of distress, he called her our good Cousin Harriots. My mother had no value for his relations; those indeed whom we knew of were much lower than hers3. This contempt began, I know not on which side, very early: but, as my father was little at home, it had not much effect.

My father and mother had not much happiness from each other. They seldom conversed; for my father could not bear to talk of his affairs; and my mother, being unacquainted with books, cared not to talk of any thing else. Had my mother been more literate, they had been better companions. She might have sometimes introduced her unwelcome topick with

Trysull, near Wolverhampton. 2 Ante, p. 56.

3 His business, as his son told Mrs. Thrale, 'led him to be much on horse-back.' Post, p. 148. The titlepage of a book published by him shows that in 1687 he had shops at Lichfield, Uttoxeter, and Ashby-dela-Zouch. Life, i. 36, n. 3. Besides, he attended book-sales in all the country round.

4 6

'My father,' he said, 'was a foolish old man; that is to say, foolish in talking of his children.' Ib. i. 40. For his 'distress' see ib. i. 78– 80.

5 They did not rise very high, for in 1773 Johnson wrote:-'Mr. Cornelius Harrison was the only one of my relations who ever rose in fortune above penury, or in character above neglect.' Letters, i. 225.

more

Of

more success, if she could have diversified her conversation. business she had no distinct conception; and therefore her discourse was composed only of complaint, fear, and suspicion. Neither of them ever tried to calculate the profits of trade, or the expenses of living. My mother concluded that we were poor, because we lost by some of our trades; but the truth was, that my father, having in the early part of his life contracted debts, never had trade sufficient to enable him to pay them, and maintain his family; he got something, but not enough.

It was not till about 1768, that I thought to calculate the returns of my father's trade, and by that estimate his probable profits. This, I believe, my parents never did.

3.

1711-12.

This year, in Lent -12, I was taken to London, to be touched for the evil by Queen Anne'. My mother was at Nicholson's,

Evelyn records on July 6, 1660 :'His Majesty began first to touch for the evil according to custom, thus: his Majesty sitting under his state [canopy] in the Banqueting-House the chirurgeons cause the sick to be brought or led, up to the throne, where they kneeling, the King strokes their faces or cheeks with both his hands at once, at which instant a chaplain in his formalities [solemn dress] says: "He put his hands upon them, and he healed them." This is said to every one in particular. When they have been all touched, they come up again in the same order, and the other chaplain kneeling, and having angel gold' strung on white ribbon on his arm, delivers them one by one to his Majesty, who puts them about the necks of the touched as they pass, while the first chaplain repeats, "That is the true light who came into the world." Then follows an Epistle (as at first a

Gospel) with the Liturgy prayers for the sick, with some alteration; lastly the blessing; and then the Lord Chamberlain and the Comptroller of the Household bring a basin, ewer and towel for his Majesty to wash.' Evelyn's Diary, ed. 1872, i. 357.

Pepys, who saw the ceremony nine months later, says :-'The King did it with great gravity, and it seemed to me to be an ugly office and a simple one.' Pepys's Diary, ed. 1851, i. 212.

Hearne records on Aug. 3, 1728:'Yesterday Mr. Gilman of St. Peter's parish in the east, Oxford (a lusty, heartick, thick, short man) told me that he is in the 85th year of his age, and that at the restoration of K. Charles ii, being much afflicted with the king's evil, he rode up to London behind his father, was touched on a Wednesday by that King, was in very good condition by that night, and by the Sunday night immediately following was perfectly recovered, and hath so continued ever since. He

A piece of money impressed with an angel. son's Dictionary.

It was rated at ten shillings. John

the

the famous bookseller, in Little Britain'. I always retained some memory of this journey, though I was then but thirty months old. I remembered a little dark room behind the kitchen, where the jack-weight fell through a hole in the floor, into which I once slipped my leg2.

I remember a boy crying at the palace when I went to be touched. Being asked on which side of the shop was the counter?' I answered, 'on the left from the entrance,' many years after, and spoke, not by guess, but by memory. We went in the stage-coach,and returned in the waggon3, as my mother said, because my cough was violent. The hope of saving a few shillings was no slight motive; for she, not having been accustomed to money, was afraid of such expenses as now seem very small. She sewed two guineas in her petticoat, lest she should be robbed.

hath constantly wore the piece of gold about his neck that he received of the King, and he had it on yesterday when I met him.' Remains of Hearne, ed. 1869, iii. 12.

Peter Wentworth wrote on April 23, 1714: The best news I can tell you in this is that the Queen is well, and grows better and better every day, has touch't twice a week.' Wentworth Papers, p. 375.

Hume says: "The practice was first dropped by the present royal family, who observed that it could no longer give amazement even to the populace, and was attended with ridicule in the eyes of all men of understanding.' History of England, ed. 1773, i. 178.

Sully, writing of a letter which he had received from Henry IV, says :'Il me mande, dans celle-ci, d'envoyer deux cents écus pour chacun des malades des écrouelles, que sa maladie avait empêché qu'il ne touchât, et qu'il n'avait pourtant pas voulu qu'on renvoyât.' Mémoires de Sully, ed. 1788, iv. 200.

My mother, then with child, concealed her pregnancy, that she might not be hindered from the

journey. Note by Johnson.

'Little Britain extends from Aldersgate Street to Duck Lane.' Dodsley's London, iii. 316. Roger North, writing of Little Britain soon after the Restoration, says :-' Then Little Britain was a plentiful and perpetual emporium of learned authors, and men went thither as to a market. This drew to the place a mighty trade, the rather because the shops were spacious, and the learned gladly resorted to them, where they seldom failed to meet with agreeable conversation. And the booksellers themselves were knowing and conversible men.' Lives of the Norths, ed. 1826, iii. 294.

2 I seem to remember, that I played with a string and a bell, which my cousin Isaac Johnson gave me ; and that there was a cat with a white collar, and a dog, called Chops, that leaped over a stick: but I know not whether I remember the thing, or the talk of it. Note by Johnson.

3 In Roderick Random, chaps. xixiii, an account is given of a journey in the London and Newcastle wagon.

We